Molly had just managed to rearrange her uniform into some semblance of tidiness when the turbolift reached the bridge and the doors slid open. Khan smoothed back his own hair, tugged at his tunic and marched straight out of the lift. She followed tentatively into the circular room with its acres of control consoles and bright lighting. She just managed to glimpse the presence of a few beings who looked vaguely human when she was thrown off her feet.

Boom!

Another ordinance rocked the ship. Molly stumbled into a control panel on the upper deck of the room and slipped into a vacant seat behind the glossy station. Again, the ship was shook and a loud groan vibrated through its hull. Before she was tossed off her perch, something crept over her collar and next thing she knew she was secured in place by a harness. Explosions continued to hammer the Shrike. The stars on the viewscreen wobbled with each blow.

"Who is attacking?" Khan shouted.

An intensely blue-skinned alien with long white hair and antennas glanced to him over her shoulder with worry lines wrinkling her forehead. Her large arctic blue eyes glistened with fear. Molly hadn't met her or any of the rest of the crew besides Khan and Jorr, but she had researched the different species and their physiology in case she needed to attend them. This apparent female was Andorian.

The Andorian frantically tapped at her console.

"It is a Gorn ship, Captain, but not one of the Hedgemony. They have a weapon . . . I don't know what it is . . . it's not even damaging the shields. It's just going right through them."

Khan inhaled a breath and grimaced.

"I know exactly who attacks. Go to warp three, they cannot fire their Heliog Canon at warp."

The Andorian female shook her head. Her antennae curved back like a cat's ears flattening.

"Warp drive is offline, Sir. The synchronizing relays are damaged."

Khan cursed as another blast hit their ship.

"Computer," he barked, "Shrike. Listen to me, I need you to thin your containment around your warp core. I know this is something you can do. The warp field is the only thing that can disrupt that weapon, understand? Where is commander Jorr?"

"He has returned to engineering, Captain. I have informed him of the situation. He is preparing the mesonic torpedoes. I must advise against firing these units at this range. Any resulting blow back will compromise my hull and I will not be able to heal a rift as fast as the pho mesons disrupt my cellular matrix."

Khan huffed. "Just start with the warp core. We will figure something out."

Molly frowned. Khan had addressed the ship as if it were one of his crew and it had responded in kind. She only had a moment to ponder the strange interaction when she felt a vibration under her feet. Something within her reacted to the peculiar harmonic. Her hair began to stand on end. Then her body almost seemed to hum in tune with the ship. The blasts that had been coming in frequent bursts tapered off and eventually quit altogether.

"Captain!" The Andorian cried breathlessly. "It's working!"

An electronic buzz sounded three times.

"They are hailing us."

"On screen," Khan growled.

In the next instant, the image on the viewport was filled by the form of a upright, man-sized lizard cross dinosaur wearing dark, rock-like armor. Molly blinked several times at the specter. No amount of familiarizing herself with alien species in the computer archives diminished the shock of seeing such a creature in the near flesh. Then she noticed several of them in the dark space behind the most prominent figure. They all had a similar greyish-green hyde riddled with scales. Their eyes appeared like a strange cystalline lattice that wrapped back like the headlights on an automobile.

"Khaaaan Noooonien Sssssiiiiiinnnngh," the principle reptile spoke in a voice that sounded like an out-of-tune radio station, "of course it is you."

The humanoid lizard paced back in forth in front of the screen with bird like movements. His head swayed like a snake attempting to charm its prey.

"Slar," Khan ground out, "what are you after?"

"You stole something from me, I want it back."

"Oh?"

Slar lifted a claw like finger and pointed. Every head in the control bridge pivoted towards where she sat wide-eyed.

"Give me back my human and I will spare your ship."

Khan glaced at Molly with a grim set to his lips and then sat forward in his Captain's chair. He stretched his neck.

"Your human?"

The large nostrils on Slar's snout flared. "Yes, mine, that Ferrengi had no business selling it to you. I had already made a deposit."

Khan's eyes widened in a kind of feigned concerned look tinged with boredom. "You will have to take that up with him."

Slar laughed, well, at least Molly thought it might be a laugh. It was a strange huffing sound that might pass for amusement.

"I did. He pleaded for arbitration. So, I arbitrarily chose to claim his head as compensation."

An electronic jangling sounded behind the Gorn Captain. One of his crew said something in an indecipherable series of low tones. Again, he huffed his odd laugh.

"Your warp field is beginning to fail, Khan. Seems your antimatter stores are running low. Why not save yourself this indignity and send the human over? I promise to give you a few light years start on your escape attempt."

Khan cricked his neck. "No."

The Gorn Captain set to pacing again, this time with a bit more jerky movements as if he was agitated.

"This is your final warning, Khan," his voice rattled, "give me what is mine or I will annihilate you."

Khan shifted forward on his chair. Molly's heart skipped a beat and she felt an internal glow. She could not believe he would risk himself, his crew and his ship for her sake. For a moment, she contemplated demanding she be sent to her possible death to save them all, especially this man who had shown a glimpse of another side of himself only moments ago in the turbolift. Despite knowing him less than a couple of weeks, she felt a sickening panic in her gut at the thought he could die. That is, until he opened his mouth.

"I will never hand over the red matter, do you understand? Never. I will trigger it into a black hole before I let you have a single atom."

Her heart nearly stopped as it stumbled painfully through its next beat. She gulped back an unexpected lump that had risen in her throat. There was no concern for her in what Khan had said, just chilling indifference to the fact she was intractably tied to the red matter and would perish if he did what he threatened. Slar's pacing halted and stepped closer to his lens. His large, reptilian head tilted sideways. Somehow, Molly registered his confusion.

"Red matter? Who said anything about red matter?"

Khan stretched his hands on his arm rests. His fingers then curled over their smooth surface. His lips poked out a moment. He seemed caught off guard.

"Why else would you want her?" he spat. "She is just a human, and an archaic one at that. She is otherwise unremarkable . . . worthless even."

Whatever feeling Molly had in her face dribbled away like the last dregs in a cup. Her heart wheezed and subsequently beat in her chest like the swish of damaged butterfly wings. Then, she felt as if her soul was collapsing. The feeling was achingly familiar and she knew that at some point in her life, even though she could not place her finger on any particular instance, she had been through such misery before. It was wretched. Time stood still as if it were under the control of a cruel director who drew out the moment just to wring the maximum amount of emotional turmoil from her as he could.

"Worthless," she repeated the word in her head.

Pain ballooned in her chest. So that is what she was to super-human Khan, worthless, save for the red matter trapped within her body. His soft words in the turbolift had meant nothing after all. They were just a means to an end. She could not believe that she had fallen for such drivel, that she had allowed herself to be seduced into thinking he wanted anything more from her than a little amusement.

Molly fought tears, sniffled and peered around. The atmosphere had changed. Her brows pulled together tightly on her forehead.

She noticed that time had stopped. It had actually stopped. No one was moving. The sounds in the room ceased to be crisp nor clear. What she heard were deep, drawn out tones. She touched the restraints over her shoulders and they fell away. She rose to her feet, her misery temporarily forgotten. Images flashed through her mind. Suddenly, she had a view of the outside of the Shrike, the inside of the Gorn ship, and the position of every nearby heavenly body. She even watched a battle between the two ships unfold. When she concentrated on what was happening, she could feel everything - every vibration of every movement and fluctuation in energy. She winced every time the Shrike was struck. She could feel its pain and fear.

Transfixed, she descended the steps from the upper level of the bridge deck, walked past Khan and stood just in front of the Shrike's viewscreen. She understood in that second that what she had just witnessed was a glimpse of the future and a battle that had not yet occurred.

Molly also realized she could stop it from happening if she wished.

She took a breath and closed her eyes. The Gorn's Heliog canon outlined itself in her mind. She followed the thread of its existence back to where she could see it as if it were large as life. With a wave of her hand, it crumpled like a bottle collapsing from a vacuum. She found this wasn't satisfying enough for her vengeance. She huffed and flicked her fingers as if to shake off some water. She watched the Gorn ship violently lurch and fly away from them at a dizzying speed until it disappeared in a flash of light across the Galaxy.

Interesting, she thought numbly, still half-stunned by her abilities.

Shrieking alarms brought her out of her revelry. Her eyes snapped open to the shimmer of mirage like waves of distorted images. Vaguely, she could hear someone screaming, "Dr. Hooper!" She took a deep breath and willed her red matter back into submission. Remarkably, it obeyed. She felt a realignment and in an instant, she was herself again. It was a kind of relief but only for about two seconds. When she glanced to where Khan had leaped up from his seat, he appeared a bit sun-burnt. The other crew members were scrambling to exit the bridge. She grimaced at their cries and the pain in their voices.

"Molly," he rasped, "what did you just do?"

She didn't have a chance to answer. Khan teetered and in the next tick, fainted dead away.